Hailing from Nova Scotia, Canada, Ambera Wellmann is a relatively new transplant in Berlin’s art scene. The creative works across a multitude of mediums and received her MFA from the University of Guelph, but it’s her surrealist images of the female form that have everyone taking note.
Incorporating the odd phallic fruit or two into her work, Wellmann’s photos confuse fingers with toes and elbows for breasts to create dizzying images that have left viewers perplexed. Sleek met Wellmann to discuss the motives behind her work, her pervy sources of inspiration and how she’s fitting in with Berlin’s massive community of creatives.
Many fans and critics like to comment on the uncomfortable, or “gross”, aspects of your art. What message are you hoping to send through your work?
I don’t have a serious message, but I do want to produce a sense of unease in the viewer from looking at something familiar. I use vocabularies and motifs that are inviting in order to push that reaction. I’m always thinking about the codes and conventions that structure our ideas around what a female body is, how it’s supposed to appear and how it’s supposed to behave. Humour helps poke fun at the absurdity of these conventions, and I hope my images seduce viewers while revealing the mechanics of their seduction.
What are your main sources of inspiration?
I think I’m a bit of a pervert, so strange images or ideas will pop into my head and I’ve often tried to suppress them. It might be why the finished images are so frequently distorted: repression breeds distortion. I loved Hans Bellmer and Man Ray’s surrealist takes on the body – their images were alarming at first glance, then led to an experience that was more mesmerising and erotic. I think about that approach from a feminist perspective and use some of the visual language often found in fashion photography, where the body is fragmented into a series of parts, or behaves or poses impossibly.
As someone relatively new to Berlin, what are your thoughts on the city’s artistic community?
My early impression is that it is incredibly diverse, and also quite large and progressive. I’ve also found it warm and welcoming here. Back home, Berlin is highly regarded for its contemporary art scene, but I love that it’s complimented by so much remarkable historical work.
Do you think an active social media presence is integral for artists looking to gain an audience today?
It’s not integral at all, but it has helped expose my work to a much wider audience. Instagram’s interactivity as an online platform draws far more traffic than my website ever has, and it shrinks the geographical and social distance between people. I’m mostly interested in the dialogue it creates between the images I post and my painting practice.
What projects do you have going on at the moment?
I’m working with the National Film Board of Canada on a short film for their digital platform. I’m also co-curating an exhibition called “1-800-DREAMER” with fellow Berlin-based Canadian artist Jess Groome. And I received a few endowments from Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council to produce a new body of large scale figurative paintings that I’m very excited about.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BMetUFIABT6/
For more information please visit amberawellmann.com